Residents of Iloilo City are urged to remain calm as the city government is doing the necessary precautionary measure amid the presence here of Korean nationals who came from Daegu City in South Korea, where high cases of positive coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) were recorded.

“Let us just remain calm; the city is on top of it. Our inter-agency has been meeting regularly,” said Mayor Jerry P. Treñas in an interview on Wednesday, Feb. 26.

Treñas said they have been coordinating with the central office of the Department of Health (DOH) through its Western Visayas regional director Marlyn W. Convocar about the executive order that he signed to “consider the Koreans as persons under monitoring (PUMs)”.

Treñas through Executive Order 039 also urged all passengers from Korea to Iloilo to voluntarily submit to self-quarantine.

Moreover, he signed another executive order canceling all major events, including the RUN (Revival Unity for Next Generation) for Jesus in the city, because the pastors who will attend are from Daegu City.

Apart from coordinating with the DOH, the city government is also in touch with the Philippine National Police (PNP). They have yet to establish the exact number of Koreans in this city.

The city government was able to trace four Korean guests who are currently booked in a hotel in this city’s Mandurriao district. “We’ve been talking to them and hoping that they will cooperate voluntarily,” the mayor said.

They are also trying to confirm whether or not the 16 guests who were supposed to fly in the afternoon of Feb. 25 have arrived.

Iloilo City’s focal person on Covid-19 Dr. Roland Jay Fortuna visited the Great Mission Church in Barangay Bolilao also in Mandurriao for a closed-door meeting with the organizer of the RUN for Jesus event on Wednesday afternoon and thereafter will proceed to the hotel to meet the Koreans.

The city government will also be waiting for the possible announcement from Health Secretary Francisco Duque regarding the status of the Korean nationals.

The secretary, Convocar said, has been attending an interagency meeting since this morning.

According to international reports, South Korea has reported 977 confirmed cases as of Tuesday, a majority of which are in Daegu City, considered as one of South Korea’s epicenters of the disease. Perla Lena/PNA